Method and apparatus for multicast forwarding

Abstract

A method or corresponding apparatus in an exemplary embodiment of the present invention determines how many copies of a multicast packet are to be sent, as copies, to multiple destinations based on information in the multicast packet and a group (e.g., bridge node) with which the packet is associated. The copies of the multicast packets are then generated. After generating the copies, an action to take for each copy is determined. This determination is made using the information in the multicast packet and based on the group with which the packet is associated. After the action is determined for each copy, the action is performed on each copy. Through use of an embodiment of the present invention, memory space is conserved, allowing for continued use of a device in a multicast environment of an ever growing network, such as the Internet.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11 / 413,957, filed Apr. 27, 2006 now abandoned, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 740,862, filed on Nov. 29, 2005. The entire teachings of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]As networks such as the Internet have increased in size, demand for data streams (e.g., video) has increased to an extent that point-to-point communications of data streams have become inefficient. In an effort to improve efficiency, multicasting has become a useful technique for simultaneously delivering a data stream from a single source network node, such as a content server, to multiple end user network nodes.[0003]Thus, multicasting is used in industry today to enable a network node to send a single packet or a data stream of information to multiple destination nodes in one transmission. The ability for a network node ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

This approach allows for efficient generation and forwarding of multicast packets, reducing memory burden and improving scalability by determining the number of copies and actions for each packet, thereby enhancing network efficiency.

Problems solved by technology

As networks such as the Internet have increased in size, demand for data streams (e.g., video) has increased to an extent that point-to-point communications of data streams have become inefficient.

The ability for a network node to send a single packet of information to multiple destinations is useful, but has limitations, such as scalability.

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